Begonya Plaza

Begonya Plaza was born in Colombia, as Begoña del Pilar Plazaetxea Goyenetxe. Her Colombian mother's father was Basque and her father is Basque, born in Gernika, Euskadi, where they moved to live when she was 2 years old until the age of 7 when the family immigrated to Hollywood, California. During her formative years, a continuous juggling act persisted between these three countries, later adding New York and Barcelona, where daughter Caterina was born. Begonya began acting at age 9, and has been directed by some of the best, such as Clint Eastwood, Michael Mann, Amy Jones, Oliver Stone, Tim Hunter and Philip Seymour Hoffman at New York's Labyrinth Theater. Austrian director, Kurt Palm chose Begonya to perform a one-woman theatre piece of erotic songs and poems of Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill. She's acted opposite Robert De Niro, Tom Cruise, Willem Dafoe, Klaus Kinski, Carrol O'Connor, Ana Ortiz and David Zayas, amongst others. She is writer/director/editor of the documentary "Gernika Lives" about her Basque heritage and the tragic events that her father as a young boy experienced during the bombing of Guernica. In her bio/drama "The Real Gernika", Plaza continues to explore political and cultural issues, with the late John Randolph playing an American Lincoln Brigades Vet of the Spanish Civil War who returns to Gernika to visit the grave of his ex-comrade; and there meets his granddaughter, Begonya. She wrote/shot/edited "Souvenir Views" in New York and Barcelona as a tribute to the World Trade Center attack of 9/11. The film premiered in 2003 at The Tribeca Film Festival, Festival de Nuevo Cine Latino Americano, Havana Cuba, Giron Film Fest in Catalunya, Spain, and airs on The Independent Film Channel. Wrote the screenplay, "The Persistence of Memory" about one year in the life of Salvador Dalí and his wife/muse the great Gala, seen from the eyes of a young lover, through New York, Cadaques and Rome. Glenn Close is committed to playing Gala and co-producer; Amanda Mackey is currently casting the uncompromising Dalí. Juan Ruiz-Anchia, Director of Photography from Bilbao, will debut as director. Currently writing in workshop a One-Woman performance piece titled "Passion Flower of Spain" about Dolores Ibarruri's symbolic journey through the Spanish Civil War.